Easter Blessings!

For many, Easter's blessings may be dressing up for church, decorating Easter eggs for an egg hunt, baskets of chocolate bunnies and eggs, and brunch or dinner with family or friends. These are lovely traditions! I especially like to think of this day as Resurrection Sunday when I focus my thoughts on what kind of amazing love God has for you and me . He knew that none of us could be sinless and since something had to shed it's blood and die to pay for our sins, He sent His own sinless Son to die on a cross to take our punishment for all of our sins. He didn't love me because I was sinless, but while I was sinful! That's the focus of the verse below that I used to make this Easter card: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8" This verse is one of the free verses from Word Art Wednesday's February 28, 2018, post.

But His death wasn't all that He did for me. His second gift was that He rose from the dead like He'd said that He would to show us we also had the gift of eternal life when we believe in Him and what He did for us! His amazing love for us wasn't just words! What a blessing! I will forever be thankful!

Here's one of several cards I made to share that message with family and friends. 

The two background circles were both from Spellbinders, the sentiment is MFT's Wonky Stitched Rectangle,  and the silver-embossed cross is an older CTMH stamp that I fussy cut. The light gray flowered background paper is from the CTMH Basics Fundamentals paper pack.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Always Fun Challenge #51 - Easter
Deep Ocean Challenge #178 - Easter/spring
Die Cuttin' Divas #362 - Easter with die cuts
Fab 'n' Funky #387 - Easter
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #328 - 329 - anything goes with uplifting message

Hugs for Heart 2 Heart

This week's challenge at Heart 2 Heart focuses on "cutting out" using dies, Cricut, or scissors.  I have a new passion for letter dies that I didn't have before. I bought some from Spellbinders 12 years ago to use for titles on scrapbook pages. Eventually, my Cricut took over that job. But now I enjoy putting patterned paper under a cut out word. Here's one with a little Chelsea Gardens leafy floral paper under the word "HUGS" with even more leaves embossed at the bottom.

I used Spellbinder's Grand Calibur to cut the CTMH Block Letters and to emboss with the CTMH retired Vine embossing folder. The dies were sharp and deep enough that I was able to stack two pieces of cardstock and cut both at the same time. I took a slightly damp paper towel to swipe over the bottom part of the card above before embossing so the white core of the Peacock cardstock wouldn't show from cracking. I didn't remember to do that with the first one I made (below) and I decided I needed to sand/distress the embossing to show the white core more uniformly.  I embellished with Peacock Stitched Ribbon and (Black and) White Dots.

Thank you for visiting! May you share lots of hugs with those you know and be blessed with happy hugs in return!

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Cut It Out
Shopping Our Stash #347 - No ink
Southern Girls #180 - Die Cuts
Tic Tac Toe Challenge #41 - down: die cuts, leaves, bold sentiment

Chelsea Gardens Mother's Day

Heart 2 Heart challenged us to make something inspired by the cover of this catalog:

 I loved the garden-themed papers of Chelsea Gardens, but it took me a while to think about what I'd make. Then I thought about how my mom knew so much about plants and shrubs and passed on that love to me, so a Mother's Day card was my choice. Even though my mom went to heaven nine years ago, I've had a lot of moms in life so I decided to make one for a friend's mom who was my Sunday School teacher, mentor and inspiration. She's still living in Texas and I need to write her a message about how much she meant to me. One summer when I took Driver's Ed with my friend, my dad dropped me off really early at their house. Mrs. Stewart would come to the door in her robe and let me in before the rest of her house woke up. She was always the perfect hostess. She shared notes she had taken at church or from messages she'd heard, always challenging us to live the Christian life to honor the Lord. When we started dating, her lovely family room in the basement became the meeting place to entertain the young men we dated. She let me borrow her tredle sewing machine when I started sewing most of my clothes. I loved that machine! I even used it to make my wedding dress.  My card will have a lot of details to express my appreciation for her mothering!

The papers are from CTMH Chelsea Gardens and the butterfly and leaves are the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp set. The sentiment is from the Mother's Garden stamp set. The butterfly and leaves were stamped then cut with the matching die and colored with Copic markers.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you'll have opportunities to share your gratitude with all the moms in your life, and  those who inspire you!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper March Challenge - anything goes with patterned paper
Create and Inspire Challenge #72 - anything goes/all about moms
D.L.Art March Linky Challenge - anything goes
Heart 2 Heart March Challenge - use the cover inspiration
HeARTful Stamping Challenge - anything goes with stamping

Rainbow Colored Flowers

When I was a teenager I learned how cloudy, rainy weather can make some people depressed. I decided then that on such days I should wear bright colors and a bright smile to help lift someone's spirits, including my own. We've had such a such a long stretch of rainy weather here in the Midwest. Even though the rain is badly needed, it's been pretty gloomy. So I was happy to make this rainbow card following the challenge at Heart 2 Heart. Playing with paper and bright colored inks is great therapy for gloomy days!

I die cut  the flowers using one of the stamp and die sets that are 25% off this month at CTMH, Falling for You. I measured the largest negative space and found it was three inches.  That meant I could have about 1/2" inch space for each of six colors of the rainbow. I lined up the top layer over the card base and  made small pencil marks at the top and bottom of the largest flower cut-out so I'd know where to place my colors. Then I used sponge daubers and made stripes of each color within the three inch space. The entire process was pretty quick.

Thank you for visiting! May you be the rainbow in someone's cloudy day!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Crafter's Castle Challenge #3 - anything goes - option: share a favorite technique
D.L. Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #225 - Flowers
Fussy and Fancy Challenge #208 - spring flowers
Heart 2 Heart challenge - Rainbows
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Floral Frenzy

Wishing You Easter Blessings

Each year I always seem to make a lot of Easter cards. Artistically, I love the pastels and lovely colors of spring after a gray, white and brown winter. Practically, I enjoy having an occasion to spread love and the message of God's love. Today I made half a dozen using scraps from my scrap drawers. I have an Ikea chest of nine drawers and put one color in each drawer, arranged like the rainbow. Today I focused on the lavender and purple drawer but added more colors for contrast. Here are the two I made using the colors of Sunday Stamps challenge and the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch #257.

I've been using CTMH paper and stamps for 16 years so these scraps are very old. The top blue strip is a satin ribbon. The chicks and sentiment are from a new stamp set, Easter Animals.   The chicks are so cute and reminded me I need to tell my grandkids about the chicks and ducks I got for Easter as a child.  This card is for a sweet young first grade girl I know. 

I had an extra silver embossed CTMH cross left from making several other cards, so I added it to my second version of this card.  I think the design works well for an adult card that focuses on the spiritual meaning of Easter as well!

I kept the inside simple with room because I like to write a personalized message.

I used another lavender scrap and a verse you can save and print from Word Art Wednesday, February 28, 2018: 

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you make your own lovely creations to share with those you love. 

I'm sharing the first card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch #257 - sketch

Dragonfly Journeys Challenge #114 - Bunnies, chicks and ducks

Hiding in My Craft Room Challenge #345 - any holiday

Make My Monday Challenge #67 - Easter fun

Sunday Stamps Challenge #175 - Easter color palette

Easter - Earth's Gladdest Day!

I like that quote by Susan Coolidge that says, "Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart." The Good Friday message of Christ's death on the cross nearly breaks my heart but the joyful message of His rising from the dead adds a new dimension to life and death. It surprised some of His followers, but gave them a new understanding of His gift of salvation.  The angel said, "He is risen as He said," so they should have all expected it. Scripture records that He was seen by over 500 people after he arose. No wonder His message spread like wildfire. Although we've been born about two thousand years later, His message still changes lives today. He conquered sin for us with His death by taking our punishment and He conquered death for us with his resurrection. Those of us who believe in and receive His gift will resurrect to a new life with Him after our deaths here on earth. This is the message I like to send with my Easter cards.

I used Cricut Design Space to cut the frame and mat for the PTI sentiment.  I stamped a diagonal background on the white panel behind it. I inked the CTMH stamp with Pixie, then dabbed on a few spots of Lagoon and Gypsy inks with sponge daubers. I also stamped the same pattern on the Juniper leafy frame using Lagoon. You can see the detail in this close-up:

Thank you for visiting! I pray your life will be blessed with the message of Easter!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #215 - Easter
Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #100 - Easter cards
Crafty Catz #409 - anything goes with option of Easter
Cut It Up Challenge #144 - Easter with die cut
Moving Along with the Times #67 - Easter
Sweet Stampers Challenge #18 - Spring or Easter
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Easter
Word Art Wednesday Challenge #326-327  - anything goes with uplifting message

Some Bunny Loves You Easter Card

Here's an Easter card I made for a little girl I met a couple of years ago at our local craft fair. She and her sister love to visit our booth while they spend the two days helping their grandma. I think they like our papercrafts and each year spend the money they earn at our booth.

I used the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

One of the girls loved seeing my friend's Bible because it was filled with artistic Bible journaling. She even mentioned it again this year because she'd seen Bible journaling somewhere else, too, and wanted to tell us about it. Since I know from her grandma that she knows that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead, I wanted a simple verse inside that acknowledged this reason we celebrate Easter. I couldn't find any, so I made up my own simple jpg that you are welcome to use.

I stamped an Easter basket and cross inside using the very light Bashful ink that matched the paper. You can click on the jpg below to enlarge it and right click to choose Save As if you'd like to keep it.

Thank you for visiting! May you be blessed as you create cards to share that bless others!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #256 - sketch
Bastel-traum #63 - Easter/spring
Crea Chicky's Challenge #19 - Easter with hand colored image
Do-all Kreatives #15 - spring/Easter
Hanna and friends #292 - Easter/spring with hand-colored person or animal
Let's Craft and Create Challenge #135 - anything goes/option Easter
Sweet Stampers Challenge #18 - spring or Easter

Materials from Close To My Heart:
Paper - Make Waves
Stamps (retired) - Some Bunny, Sensational Season, He Is Risen
Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Lagoon, Bashful
Cricut Art Philosophy
Other Supplies:
Copic Markers, Lawn Fawn Spring Showers cloud dies